Speed reducer

ABSTRACT

This invention refers to a speed reducer made up of a chain carrying nuts and of a screw, i.e., a ball screw in the case of the first embodiment, a roller screw in the second embodiment. The ball screw or the roller screw drives the nuts when these are aligned on one of the straight stretches of the chain. The ball screw, or the roller screw, can be almost as long as the distance between the centers of the output sprockets on which the chain is mounted; given these features and because the nuts wrap the ball screw, or the roller screw in a great surface, the load capacity is high. Given that in both embodiments the contact is rolling, friction is therefore low and as a consequence, efficiency is high, so high indeed that it allows this invention also to serve as an amplifier.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a secondary application of Mexican Patent Application Serial No. MX/a/20131002354 filed Feb. 28, 2013, hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers generally to mechanical transmissions, and more specifically to speed reducers and amplifiers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The worm and gear speed reducer is one of the most frequently used when a large speed reduction is required. However, it has limitations: low load capacity and poor efficiency. The low load capacity is inherent to the geometry since the pitch cylinder of the worm has only one point of tangency with the pitch cylinder of the gear and, therefore, very few teeth in contact. The low efficiency is due to the sliding contact between the worm and the gear with the resulting great loss of energy due to friction. The sliding contact also gives rise to rubbing that gives rise to wear. Furthermore, in some applications, the heat generated by friction is such that a cooling system is required and this involves a greater complication and higher manufacturing and maintenance costs.

During the preceding centuries several patents were granted referring to concepts to increase the load capacity of the worm and gear reducers by increasing the contact surfaces. The best known concepts to achieve this goal have been, on the one hand, a gear configuration with the circumferential toothed surface concave shaped so as to partially envelop or wrap the worm, and on the other hand, a worm with a concave silhouette which partially envelops the gear. Also, gear and worm assemblies are used with double enveloping arrangements, that is, which simultaneously incorporate both configurations. All of these schemes have contributed to noticeably raise the load capacity, but are still limited. It is clear that of this does not solve the inefficiency problem.

In 1897, the concept of a worm and chain speed reducer described in U.S. Pat. No. 595,508 by Wolander appeared, which refers to a speed reducer similar to a worm and gear, such as is shown in FIG. 1, but, instead of the gear, it has a transmission chain whose links are essentially half nuts. The turning of the worm drives the half nuts, and thus it also drives the chain which is mounted on two identical sprockets. Since the worm is in contact with said half nuts on the straight portion of the chain, the contact surface may be large, and therefore, the load capacity can be much higher than that of the configurations described in the previous paragraph. However, since the motion transmission in all of these arrangements is carried out by means of sliding contact, the efficiency is low. The same can be said of patent DE 2406360, published in August 1975, by Werther, as well as patent JP2000-097293 by Hanaguchi Yuuji, published in April 2000, such as is shown in FIG. 2.

U.S. Pat. No. 418,328, published in December 1889 by Willett refers to a mechanism which drives a boat by means of pedals which include an angular speed amplifier, made up of a chain equipped with small wheels that drives a worm, such as is shown in FIG. 3. In this case, the efficiency is raised by means of the small wheels and there is the potential to somewhat raise the load capacity but it is not really used, and neither is such possibility mentioned. The same is true for U.S. Pat. No. 594,511 published in November 1897, by Auble whose invention refers to a land vehicle.

U.S. Pat. No. 642,430 published in January 1900 by Corcoran and DE 3305551 C2 published in September 1990 by Reguzzi, such as are shown in FIG. 4, as well as U.S. Pat. No. 7,222,682 published in May 2007 by Doering, such as is shown in FIG. 5, also refer to chains with small wheels, by which efficiency is raised, but there is also an increased load capacity as compared to the patents described in the previous paragraph, because unlike them, all the rods in the chain have small wheels.

On the other hand, the patents: U.S. Pat. No. 626,515 published in June 1899, by Whitney and U.S. Pat. No. 747,463 published in December 1903, by Moore, such as are shown in FIG. 6, refer to worm and gear reducers which include small wheels in the gear to reduce friction and increase efficiency but, as has already been mentioned, this type of reducers have few teeth in contact with the consequent limitation on the load capacity.

In the past few decades there has been a general, great interest, in energy savings. Particularly, in the case of worm and gear speed reducers, patents have been granted, and applications continue to be filed which involve concepts to render them more efficient. Therefore there are patents, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,433 published on May 9, 1977, by Schutz, such as can be seen in FIG. 7 a; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,051,610 published on May 2006, by Stoianovici, such as can be seen in FIG. 7 b, which refer to an assembly of balls that roll between the worm thread and the gear teeth, circulating in a closed circuit, that is to say, that once they have journeyed through the entire helicoid thread, they return through an ad hoc conduit to return and re-journey said thread. Of course, the threads are designed in such a way so as to aid in the transit of the balls. In this manner, the sliding contact between the worm and the gear is substituted by a rolling contact which lowers the friction coefficient thereby decreasing the losses and, consequently, significantly increasing the efficiency. In these patents, the gear partially envelops the worm and the worm partially envelops the gear in order to somewhat increase the load capacity, but within the limit imposed by the geometry of the worm and gear assembly, as has been discussed above.

Other patents which could be considered generally relevant in prior art, as far as the roller screw which is applied in the second embodiment of the present invention, are patents U.S. Pat. No. 2,683,379, published in July 1954, by Strandgren, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,082,818, published in December 2011, by Sugitani. However, these patents do not describe a reducer. The conventional roller screw is driven by a tube which has an internal thread, and in the case of the inverted roller screw, said tube is driven by the screw. However, for the sake of simplicity, the inverted roller screw which is used in the second embodiment of the present invention will be simply called “roller screw”. This term refers to an assembly, which basically consists of a worm provided with threaded planetary rollers, and placed within an internally threaded tube. The threaded planetary rollers roll between the worm and the threaded tube, and upon turning they displace said tube on a straight line. In this invention, the internally threaded tube is substituted by a plurality of nuts which are mounted on the links of a chain transmission.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to a transformation of a worm and gear reducer to significantly increase both the efficiency and the load capacity. The gear is substituted by a chain transmission carrying nuts. In a first embodiment of this invention, the worm is substituted by a ball screw. In a second embodiment, the worm is substituted by an inverted roller screw.

The efficiency is increased because the sliding contact between the worm and the gear is substituted by the rolling contact between the ball screw and the nuts, or between the roller screw and the nuts. The load capacity is increased because the contact of very few teeth in the worm and gear is substituted by the contact of many nuts that envelop a large surface of the ball screw, or of the roller screw. This is possible because said contact takes place on a straight stretch of the chain, which can be as long as desired.

As opposed to the worm and gear, this invention can also function as an amplifier because the low friction of the ball screw as well as of the roller screw, allows it to function as such.

In both embodiments, the nuts envelop most of the cylindrical surface of the ball screw, or that of the roller screw, and thus the contact surface is much greater than in the case of the worm and gear, as well as all the other prior art patents which have been described.

Just as in the case of the worm and gear, one turn of the ball screw or of the roller screw, produces a very small fraction of a turn in the sprockets of the transmission chain, there is a great reduction of angular displacement and, thus, a great speed reduction. In both embodiments, an additional reduction may be obtained by using the differential screw principle, in the case of the first embodiment by using a differential ball screw, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,114 published in May 1999 by Dolata, and in the case of the second embodiment by using a differential roller screw, such as that described in patents U.S. Pat. No. 3,406,584 published in October 1968 by Roantree and FR 2951514 B1, published in March 2012 by Baudasse.

In the invention being described in the present document, advantage is taken of the geometry of the configuration to increase the contact surface and thus increase the load capacity, given that the ball screw and the roller screw can be as long as desired.

As has already been pointed out, in reducers which involve a worm, efforts are being made to overcome the limitations regarding load capacity and efficiency, but the concepts which have been proposed imply reducers which overcome effectively one, and not both limitations in the same reducer.

Therefore, an objective of the present invention is to provide a high efficiency speed reducer/amplifier.

Another objective of this invention is to provide a speed reducer/amplifier with a high load capacity.

An additional objective of this invention is to provide a speed reducer/amplifier with an increased reduction or amplification ratio.

Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a reducer/amplifier which includes all the objectives mentioned previously, simultaneously in a single unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The particular features and advantages of the present invention, as well as other objectives of the invention, will become apparent in the following description and its accompanying figures:

FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 a and 7 b refer to prior art concepts.

FIG. 8 is a conventional perspective view of the general concept of the first embodiment of the invention, including the main assemblies of the reducer/amplifier.

FIG. 9 is a conventional perspective view of the assembly in FIG. 8, with some nuts cut away to show the ball screw and its relationship with the ball retainer trough.

FIG. 10 a is a conventional perspective view of the ball screw of the first embodiment, with the re-circulation conduits for the balls, showing the external tubes separated from the screw.

FIG. 10 b is a detailed view of one end of the ball worm, without the balls, showing the exit and return conduits for the balls.

FIG. 10 c is a conventional perspective of a detailed view of one end of the worm with balls, and with the outer tube in operating position.

FIG. 11 a is a conventional perspective view of the ball retainer trough of the first embodiment. The ball retainer trough which is shown has a semi-circular channel shape to be used with nuts like those in FIGS. 12 a and 12 b.

FIG. 11 b shows the ball retainer trough to be used with the nuts, like those of FIG. 12 c.

FIG. 12 a Referring to the first embodiment, this is a conventional perspective view of a chain link, and of the nut fastened unto the same.

FIG. 12 b shows separately a chain link and a nut.

FIG. 12 c referring to the first embodiment, shows a variant of the nut which envelops the ball screw in an arc greater than 180° with a gap that barely allows the shaft of the ball screw to pass through.

FIG. 12 d shows the geometric relations between the gap λ of the nut, the angle θ of the threaded surface of the nut and its conjugate angle φ.

FIG. 13 Referring to the first embodiment is a conventional perspective view of the chain with the nuts.

FIG. 14 is a conventional perspective view of the general concept of the second embodiment of the reducer/amplifier, which includes the main assemblies.

FIG. 15 is a conventional perspective view of the assembly of FIG. 14, with a few nuts cut away to partially the roller screw.

FIG. 16 is an amplified view of the cut away portion of FIG. 15.

FIG. 17 Referring to the second embodiment, shows the assembly of the roller screw and shaft.

FIG. 18 a is a conventional perspective view, from a first side, which shows a nut mounted in position on a chain link.

FIG. 18 b is FIG. 18 a exploded, seen from a second side.

FIG. 19 shows a variant of the general assembly of FIG. 14, wherein the chain drives three different diameter output sprockets with their respective shafts.

FIG. 20 shows another variant of the general assembly of FIG. 14 wherein the roller screw drives two chain transmissions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Definition

Nuts: the term “nut”, in the case of the present invention, does not have the usual meaning referring to a fastening device and known in prior art, instead it refers to the components through which the rotating motion of the drive screw, ball or roller, is converted into the linear displacement of the chain.

First Embodiment

A motor (not shown) is coupled to shaft (31) and makes both it and ball worm (32) rotate about their common geometric axis, FIGS. 8, 9, 10 a, 10 b and 10 c. The reducer input shaft (31) is either keyed, splined or otherwise fixed to the ball worm (32). The ball worm (32) and shaft (31) assembly is mounted on bearings (not shown). Nuts (34) are fastened to the links (39) of the chain (40) by means of screws, rivets (not shown) or other means known in the art, or they may be integral with them, FIGS. 12 a, 12 b and 13.

The ball worm (32) is equipped with recirculation balls (35) which, when rolling describe a helicoid trajectory and propel the nuts (34) of the chain (40). The balls (35) roll between the helicoid thread (36) of the ball worm (32) and the helicoid thread (37) of the nuts (34) thus forcing the nuts to be displaced in a straight line, as can be seen in FIGS. 10 a, 10 b and 12 a. Both threads (36) and (37) have identical helix angles. The thread (36) of the ball worm (32) and the thread (37) of the nuts (34) are helicoid grooves with a cross section which may be in the shape of an arc of a circle, or in a “v” shape or other adequate shape; both threads (36) and (37) form a helicoid conduit for the rolling of the balls.

The nuts (34) have a λ wide gap (46), FIGS. 12 c and 12 d, to avoid interference with the shaft (31) of the ball worm (32), as said nuts move along, so that λ=d+h, wherein d is the diameter of shaft (31) and h is a clearance, so that said nuts have a θ angle of threaded surface, where: θ=360°−φ; φ=2 Arcsin[λ/(2r)], where r is the radius of the threaded surface, see FIG. 12 d.

FIG. 12 c shows a variant of the nuts (34) in which said nuts envelop the ball screw (32) in an arc greater than 180°, since it is only required that the gap (46) of the nuts (34) be sufficiently wide to avoid an interference between the nuts (34) and the shaft (31) of the ball worm (32).

Because of the gap (46) in the nuts (34), the thread (37) in the same is not continuous but rather, intermittent. The ball retainer trough (42) serves as a bridge which prevents the balls from falling when they cross the gap (46). Said ball retainer trough (42) is a channel whose cross section is a circular arc which subtends an angle ψ=φ−α where α is the clearance (38) between the nuts (34) and the ball retainer (42), FIG. 8. The ball retainer may, or may not be integral with its pedestal (47). FIG. 11 a shows a ball retainer trough to be used in conjunction with the nuts of FIGS. 12 a and 12 b, while FIG. 11 b shows a ball retainer trough to be used in conjunction with the nuts of FIG. 12 c.

Referring to FIGS. 10 a, 10 b and 10 c: when the balls (35) reach the end of thread (36) at one end of the ball worm (32) they are submerged in the curved exit conduit (33) which leads them to the curved tube (43), which forces them to make a 180° turn and leads them to the straight return conduit (44) located inside the ball worm itself (32) and parallel to its own longitudinal axis; the straight return conduit (44) goes from one end to the other end of the ball worm (32) and links with an arrangement made up of a curved tube (45) and a curved entrance conduit which conveys the balls (35) to the entrance of the thread (36) of the ball worm (32) so that they will again circulate in between threads (36) and (37), FIG. 12 a. The entrance and exit arrangements of the helical thread (36) are identical. The entrance arrangement of helical thread (36) is identical to the exit arrangement in the other end of the ball worm (32). The elements (43) to (45) make up the return conduit of the balls. This return conduit together with the helicoid conduit formed by the threads of the nuts and the threads of the ball worm, plus the helical path of the balls between the ball worm and the ball retainer channel make up the closed circuit of circulation of the balls.

It is pertinent to point out that the cylindrical surface of the ball worm (32) covered by the balls which transmit the load is S=θrL, where r is the radius of the ball worm and L is the length of the ball worm.

Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9: the nuts (34) are fastened to the chain (40) so, that when the nuts (34) are displaced linearly, the chain (40) is also displaced linearly. The linear displacement of the chain produces an angular displacement of the sprockets (48) and (49). Said sprockets rotate together with their respective shafts (50) and (51) because these are fastened unto the sprockets by means of keys or splines, or by another means, or may even be integral with the same. Of course, the shafts (50) and (51) of the sprockets (48) and (49) are supported on bearings (not shown) which are anchored, for example, unto the frame (not shown) or unto the casing (not shown) of the speed reducer.

The chain and sprockets are of the roller type they may be single or multiple strand according to the requirements. The chain and sprockets may be either roller type or inverted tooth type, also known as silent chain.

In order to axially align the nuts (34), and also in order to prevent the possibility of a small rotation which could occur between the adjacent nuts due to the looseness between the components of the chain (40), the nuts (34) have a protruding shape (52) on one of its sides, and a recessed shape (53) on the other side, FIG. 12 b. The protruding shapes (52) and the recessed shapes (53) may have a pyramidal shape. It should be emphasized that the recessed shape (53) of a nut is coupled with the protruding shape (52) of its adjacent nut.

It may be convenient that sprockets (48) and (49) have different diameters so as to have two different output speeds, one from each shaft (50) and (51) respectively. Of course, the sprockets may have identical diameters, because there may be some applications which require this to be so.

When this first embodiment is used as a reducer, the shaft (31) is the input shaft and the shafts (50) and (51) are the output shafts. When this embodiment is used as an amplifier, one of the shafts (50) or (51) is the input shaft, and the shaft (31) is the output shaft.

It is preferred that the chain (40) have one nut (34) fastened to each link (39), however it is possible to have nuts (34) fastened to alternate links (39), or in each 3^(rd), 4^(th), . . . or n^(th), link (39). The length of the nuts (34) is equal to np, where p is the chain pitch, given that on the straight stretch of the chain there are no spaces between the nuts.

Both the ball worm (32) and the nuts (34) may have a single thread, or they may have a rapid advance thread, that is, one with multiple threads.

The chain (40) may be a roller chain or an inverted toothed chain (also known as silent chain), or even, a toothed belt could conceivably substitute the chain. In the case that the chain (40) and the corresponding output sprockets (48) and (49), are of the roller type, the chain may be single or multiple, i.e., double, triple etc. depending on the load capacity.

In other variants, the chain (40) may drive 2, 3, or more output sprockets with their respective shafts, in order to have various reduction ratios, or, in order to drive different loads (for instance, machines).

In other variations, a ball worm (32) may drive two chain transmissions (40) at the same time, thus eliminating the bending moment which is acting on the ball worm (32) when only one chain transmissions (40) is used.

Since there is rolling contact between the worm (32), the balls (35) and the nuts (34) the friction is much lower than that of the worm and gear reducer, where there is sliding contact. Additionally, the contact surfaces may be as great as desired, and in any case, much greater than in the case of the worm and gear.

For these reasons, the reducer/amplifier being referred to in this first embodiment of the present invention has both a load capacity and an efficiency which are much greater than those of a worm and gear reducer, and much greater than in all of the devices referred to in the patents mentioned previously.

A greater reduction may be obtained by using a differential ball screw.

Second Embodiment

Similar to the first embodiment and referring to FIGS. 14, 15, 16 and 17, a motor (not shown), coupled to the shaft (2) of the roller screw (1), makes both rotate about their common geometrical axis. The input shaft (2) is supported by any suitable bearings (not shown). The rotation of the roller screw (1) is converted into a straight line displacement of the nuts (3), by means of its threaded planetary rollers (4), which roll between the worm (5) of the roller screw (1) and the nuts (3).

The nuts (3) are fastened onto the links (7) of the chain (8), by fastening means known in the art such as could be screws or rivets (not shown) or, said nuts (3) may be integral with the links (7).

The nuts (3) have a λ wide gap (6), FIGS. 18 a and 18 b, to avoid interference with the shaft (2) of the worm (5), so that λ=d+h, wherein d is the diameter of shaft (2) and h is a clearance, so that said nuts have a θ angle of threaded surface, where: θ=360°−φ; φ=2 Arcsin[/(2r)], where r is the radius of the threaded surface, FIG. 12 d.

Similarly to the first embodiment, and in order to align the nuts (3) axially, and so as to prevent the possibility of a small rotation which could occur between the adjacent nuts due to the looseness between the components of the chain (8), the nuts (3) have a protruding shape (15) on one of its ends, and a recessed shape (16) on the other end, both centered on the longitudinal axis of the threaded cylindrical surface, FIGS. 18 a and 18 b. The protruding shape (15) and the recessed shape (16) may have a pyramidal shape. The recessed shape (16) of a nut is coupled with the protruding shape (15) of its adjacent nut.

In this second embodiment, shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, the configuration of chain (8) in operation is made up of two circular arcs and two straight stretches. The roller screw (1) drives the nuts (3) in one of the straight stretches of the chain.

In view that the nuts (3) are fastened unto the chain (8), upon the displacement of the nuts (3), the chain (8) is also displaced. This produces an angular displacement of the output sprockets (9) and (10). The output sprockets (9) and (10) turn together with their respective shafts (11) and (12) because they are either keyed or splined together, or they may be integral with each other. The shafts (11) and (12) are output shafts, and are supported on bearings (not shown). Generally, it is convenient that the output sprockets have different diameters so as to have two different reduction ratios, one from each output shaft (11) and (12). Of course, the output sprockets may have identical diameters, because there may be some applications which require this to be so.

When this second embodiment of the invention is used as a reducer, the shaft (2) is the input shaft and the shafts (11) and (12) are output shafts. When this embodiment of the invention is used as an amplifier, one of the shafts (11) or (12) (or both) is the input shaft, and the shaft (2) is the output shaft.

It is preferred that the chain (8) have a nut (3) fastened unto each link (7), however, it is possible to have nuts fastened unto alternating links, or at every 3^(rd), 4^(th), . . . or n^(th) link. The length of the nuts (3) is equal to np, where p is the chain pitch, because there are no spaces between the nuts on the straight stretch of the chain.

It is possible that both the roller screw (1) and the nuts (3) have a single thread or a rapid advance thread, that is, one with multiple threads.

The chain (8) can be either a roller chain, or a silent chain or any other suitable chain or it could conceivably be a toothed belt or some other kind of belt. The roller chain (8) and the sprockets (9) and (10) may be single or multiple: double, triple, etc. according to the different requirements.

In other variations, the chain (8) may drive 2, 3, or more output sprockets with their respective shafts, in order to have various reduction ratios. For example, the variant in FIG. 19 shows a transmission with three output sprockets (9), (10) and (18) with their respective shafts (11), (12) and (19).

In other variations, a roller screw (1) may drive two chain transmissions at the same time, see FIG. 20, thus eliminating the bending moment which is acting on the roller screw (1), when only one chain transmission is used. For this variant, it is necessary that the gap (6) be approximately 50% of the nut (3), that is, θ is almost 180°.

As has already been pointed out, in this second embodiment of the invention, the roller screw (1) acts as a worm driver and its threaded planetary rollers (4) roll between the worm (5) and the nuts (3) and drive said nuts in a straight line. At the ends of the worm (5), there are gears (13), which are integral to the worm (5) itself, FIG. 17. On the ends of the threaded planetary rollers (4) there are pinions (14), which are integral with the threaded planetary rollers (4) themselves. The pinions (14) mesh with the gears (13). In this way, the turning of the worm (5) causes the threaded planetary rollers (4) to turn on their own geometric axes and orbit around worm (5) by means of the pinions (14). The threaded planetary rollers (4) are mounted on the rings (17); these rings keep the threaded planetary rollers (4) separated from each other. The gears (13) and the pinions (14) serve the purpose of synchronizing the orbital movement of the threaded planetary rollers (4).

Since there is rolling contact between worm (5) and the threaded planetary rollers (4) and also between said planetary rollers and the nuts (3) friction is much lower and thus efficiency is greater than that of a worm and gear reducer. Because this higher efficiency this embodiment may be used in reverse form as an amplifier, without decreasing the amplification ratio, which is impossible in the case of the worm and gear.

Additionally, the contact surface of a threaded planetary roller (4) is much greater than the contact surface of a row of balls (with a length comparable to that of a planetary roller), and as a consequence the load capacity of this second embodiment is greater by one order of magnitude than that of the first embodiment. As was already pointed out, the load capacity of the first embodiment is much greater than that of the worm and gear. Additionally, the life of the roller screw is 15 times greater than that of the ball screw of the first embodiment.

The effectiveness of the roller screw, insofar as the increase in both the load capacity and the efficiency, has been amply proven in its application on commercial actuators by different manufacturers.

A greater reduction can be achieved by using a differential roller screw.

Insofar as this invention has been described in terms of its two embodiments and several variations, there are alterations, permutations and equivalents which lie within the scope of this invention. It should also be emphasized that there may be many alternative ways to implement the devices and methods of the present invention. Therefore, it is assumed that the following claims shall be interpreted so as to include all such alterations, permutations and equivalent as long as they lie within the spirit and scope of the present invention. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A speed reducer comprising: an endless chain transmission with a plurality of links and with a nut fixed unto or integral with, preferably, each one of the plurality of links, the chain drives, at least, two sprockets with their respective shafts; and a drive screw made up of a worm and a plurality of rolling bodies which roll around the worm, wherein the rolling bodies roll between the worm thread and the threads of the nuts; the rotation of the worm shaft makes the plurality of rolling bodies roll and they, in turn, drive the nuts and, consequently, they also drive the chain in one of the straight portions of the chain. the shafts of the worm and of the sprockets are mounted on bearings and their supports, the bearings or their supports are anchored in the reducer frame or casing; the shaft of the worm is the input shaft of the speed reducer and the shafts of the sprockets are the output shafts of the speed reducer.
 2. The speed reducer, in accordance with claim 1, wherein the nuts have a gap of width λ=d+h, where d is the diameter of the worm shaft and h is a small clearance, and the threaded surface of said nuts subtends an angle of θ=360°−φ, where φ=2 Arcsin[λ/(2r)] and r is the radius of the threaded surface.
 3. The speed reducer, according to claim 1, wherein the chain is a single or a multiple strand roller chain, and the sprockets are, correspondingly, single or multiple roller chain sprockets.
 4. The speed reducer, according to claim 1, wherein the chain is an inverted tooth chain, also known as silent chain, and correspondingly the sprockets are silent chain sprockets.
 5. The speed reducer, according to claim 1, wherein the worm and the nuts have a single thread.
 6. The speed reducer, according to claim 1, wherein the worm and the nuts have a multiple thread.
 7. The speed reducer, according to claim 1, wherein the sprockets have different diameters.
 8. The speed reducer, according to claim 1, wherein the sprockets have equal diameters.
 9. The speed reducer, in accordance with claim 1, wherein the nuts are mounted on each nth link of the chain, n=1, 2, 3, . . . , i.e., n is an integer number, the length of each nut is np, where p is the pitch of the chain.
 10. The speed reducer, in accordance with claim 1, is reversible, i.e., it can operate as a speed amplifier, in which case one or both of the sprocket shafts is, or are, the input shaft or shafts, and the worm shaft is the output shaft.
 11. The speed reducer, according to claim 1, wherein the drive screw drives two chain transmissions simultaneously.
 12. The speed reducer, in accordance with claim 1, wherein the nuts may or may not have a protruding portion on one side and a recessed portion on the other side, in which the protruding portion on each nut is coupled with the recessed portion on the adjacent nut.
 13. The speed reducer, according to claim 1, wherein the screw is a differential screw.
 14. The reducer, in accordance with claim 1, wherein the screw is a roller screw.
 15. The speed reducer, according to claim 14, wherein the roller worm of the roller screw is equipped with a gear on each end which is either integral with it or rigidly fastened to it, and the plurality of threaded rollers are equipped with a pinion on each end which is either integral with it or rigidly fastened to it, and the gears and pinions are meshed.
 16. The speed reducer, in accordance with claim 1, wherein the drive screw is a ball screw; the balls circulate in a circuit made up of two sections, the first section is the thread of the ball worm, in this first section the balls roll a fraction of a turn around the worm in the conduit formed by the threads of both the worm and the nuts, and the rest of the turn they roll between the thread of the worm and the unthreaded inner surface of a ball retainer trough and this is repeated on each turn of the worm until the balls reach the end of the worm; the ball retainer trough partially envelops the worm together with the balls rolling, at that moment, on the inner surface of the trough; the second section is the return section formed by a straight conduit in the body of the worm and parallel to its geometrical axis, that runs from one end of the worm to the other end of the worm, and two 180° turn curved tubes, one on each end of the worm.
 17. The speed reducer, in accordance with claim 16, wherein the helical threads in both the ball worm and the nuts are grooves with a cross section that may be an arc of a circle, or a “v”, or any other adequate shape; both threads form a helical conduit for the rolling of the balls.
 18. The speed reducer, in accordance with claim 16, wherein the ball retainer trough is shaped in the form of a concave cylindrical surface with its geometric axis coincident with the geometric axis of the worm; the trough partially envelops the worm with the balls. 